Month End Closing

Being a small business owner, a CPA, or part of a dedicated corporate accounting team, the success of your company relies heavily upon certain standardized procedures and the data they generate.

This is notably true for the accounts department, where the month-end closing process must be done properly to ensure the accuracy and completeness of your financial statements report and balance sheet. Monthly or weekly preparation of these documents is no more glamorous than it is particularly enjoyable for many, but month-end closing is essential to the health and happiness of not only your accounting department, auditors, but your entire organization.

Conventionally, month-end closing has been regarded as a time-consuming activity and occasionally frustrating process—It is considered a sort of “necessary evil” in bookkeeping for any accountant. However, by taking the time to understand its particulars, implementing a clear and concise checklist, and investing in the right technology, you can ensure your month-end closing is quick and painless, without sacrificing accuracy or completeness.

Being a small business owner, a CPA, or part of a dedicated corporate accounting team, the success of your company relies heavily upon certain standardized procedures and the data they generate.

This is notably true for the accounts department, where the month-end closing process must be done properly to ensure the accuracy and completeness of your financial statements report and balance sheet. Monthly or weekly preparation of these documents is no more glamorous than it is particularly enjoyable for many, but month-end closing is essential to the health and happiness of not only your accounting department, auditors, but your entire organization.

Conventionally, month-end closing has been regarded as a time-consuming activity and occasionally frustrating process—It is considered a sort of “necessary evil” in bookkeeping for any accountant. However, by taking the time to understand its particulars, implementing a clear and concise checklist, and investing in the right technology, you can ensure your month-end closing is quick and painless, without sacrificing accuracy or completeness.

What is the Month-End Closing Process?

Typically, at the last day or few of every month, a business needs to review its accounts to ensure it has a proper record and reconciliation of all the key transactions that have taken place during that specific month.

This helps to ensure all accounting data is organized, accurate, and complete. Having these data recorded simplifies and streamlines a number of other accounting procedures, including month-end for each month to come and the annual version of month-end known as year-end close.

Account closing of the books benefits any public or private company in several ways:

Accurate, comprehensive, and current financial records
Provides context necessary for informed decision-making
Simplifies tax filing
Highlights areas in need of improvement and provides insights on how to implement such improvements
Streamlines audits
Tracking discrepancies and making necessary adjustments

Typically, at the last day or few of every month, a business needs to review its accounts to ensure it has a proper record and reconciliation of all the key transactions that have taken place during that specific month.

This helps to ensure all accounting data is organized, accurate, and complete. Having these data recorded simplifies and streamlines a number of other accounting procedures, including month-end for each month to come and the annual version of month-end known as year-end close.

Account closing of the books benefits any public or private company in several ways:

Accurate, comprehensive, and current financial records
Provides context necessary for informed decision-making
Simplifies tax filing
Highlights areas in need of improvement and provides insights on how to implement such improvements
Streamlines audits
Tracking discrepancies and making necessary adjustments

A month-end closing process requires you to do some entry in your accounting system for essential information. Preparing reports will then be an easy operation. Increasingly, collecting and organizing this information is greatly simplified with help from tech tools. Cloud-based approach, mobile-friendly, and designed to help you achieve lasting and continuous improvement through data analysis, process automation and online collaboration, these software solutions grant you complete and transparent access to, and control over, all of your procurement data in detailed documentation. This improves the accuracy and completeness of all your financial records, including accounts payable reports that drive your strategic spend management and financial planning.

Every business is unique, and what works for a mega corporation may not be in the cards for a small business. That being said, at InTune Outsourcing, these are the procedures we perform for a month end closing:

Ensure all sales and collections from customers are recorded.
Reconcile collections from different methods of receipt from customers e.g. cash, direct bank-in, credit cards, e-wallets, etc.
Ensure all supplier invoices are posted into the accounting system.
Ensure all payments to suppliers and expenses are posted into the accounting system.
Reconcile supplier balances against statement of accounts from suppliers.
Tally and post all petty cash transactions.
Record and post all purchases, disposals, write-off, and depreciation of fixed assets.
Perform physical inventory count, match against accounting system records, and investigate and adjust any variances.
Record month end journal entries: payroll, statutory expenses, accruals, prepayments, etc.
Perform bank reconciliation.
Review and finalise the financial statements.

It is important to reconcile that specific procedures may vary based on your industry, accounting methods, available technology, etc. Using our services along with our chosen software that offers a cloud-based, automated solution, as such, many of these data sources will already be connected, organized, and ready for real-time access, manipulation, and analysis as needed.

A month-end closing process requires you to do some entry in your accounting system for essential information. Preparing reports will then be an easy operation. Increasingly, collecting and organizing this information is greatly simplified with help from tech tools. Cloud-based approach, mobile-friendly, and designed to help you achieve lasting and continuous improvement through data analysis, process automation and online collaboration, these software solutions grant you complete and transparent access to, and control over, all of your procurement data in detailed documentation. This improves the accuracy and completeness of all your financial records, including accounts payable reports that drive your strategic spend management and financial planning.

Every business is unique, and what works for a mega corporation may not be in the cards for a small business. That being said, at InTune Outsourcing, these are the procedures we perform for a month end closing:

Ensure all sales and collections from customers are recorded.
Reconcile collections from different methods of receipt from customers e.g. cash, direct bank-in, credit cards, e-wallets, etc.
Ensure all supplier invoices are posted into the accounting system.
Ensure all payments to suppliers and expenses are posted into the accounting system.
Reconcile supplier balances against statement of accounts from suppliers.
Tally and post all petty cash transactions.
Record and post all purchases, disposals, write-off, and depreciation of fixed assets.
Perform physical inventory count, match against accounting system records, and investigate and adjust any variances.
Record month end journal entries: payroll, statutory expenses, accruals, prepayments, etc.
Perform bank reconciliation.
Review and finalise the financial statements.

It is important to reconcile that specific procedures may vary based on your industry, accounting methods, available technology, etc. Using our services along with our chosen software that offers a cloud-based, automated solution, as such, many of these data sources will already be connected, organized, and ready for real-time access, manipulation, and analysis as needed.

Every SME Can Become Large

InTune Outsourcing - Creating Financially Driven Businesses and Entrepreneurs.

Show Me How

Every SME Can Become Large

InTune Outsourcing - Creating Financially Driven Businesses and Entrepreneurs.

Show Me How